"One of These Things Is Not Like the Other" - Luke 15:1-10 (September 15, 2019)

Luke 15:1-10

Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’

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Who among us does not know the frustration of losing something?  How many times have we muttered obscenities while scouring the house for those car keys, or those reading glasses, or that cell phone?  I’m usually a pretty calm, collected person, or at least I like to think so.  But my wife will attest to the fact that when I’ve lost something, I’m a downright jerk.  I tend to get more and more frantic and frustrated as I destroy the house looking for that lost item.  And then, when the item is finally found, there’s the euphoric sense of relief that what was lost has now been found.

So, if you’ve ever rejoiced abundantly at finding something that was lost, then the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel is especially for you!  This chapter, in the middle section of Luke’s Gospel, is all about lost things.

Three stories come to us in this chapter.  One about a lost sheep.  One about a lost coin.  And one about a lost child.  

All three stories share many similarities.  The first one is the most obvious:  something has been lost.  In the first story it’s a sheep that has wandered.  In the second, a coin that has been misplaced.  And in the third, a child, who we’ve been taught to refer to as the “prodigal son,” who has taken his father’s inheritance and foolishly wasted it.

The second similarity between the three stories is that the person’s who have lost something try vigorously to find it.  The shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to search for the one who has strayed.  The woman sweeps the house frantically for the coin, lighting a lamp to search every crevasse.  And the father in the story of the prodigal son waits fervently outside his house with his gaze fixed on the horizon looking for his long-lost child.

Thirdly, all three persons, once they find what has been lost, publicly celebrate to an absurd extent the restoration of what was torn asunder.  The shepherd calls together his friends to share the good news.  The woman, upon finding the coin, likely spends more on the party celebrating its finding that the original worth of the coin itself!  And, finally, the father celebrates his son returning by slaying the fatted calf, putting a ring on his finger, and dressing him in his finest robe.  

But these three stories also have their differences.  And I’d like to explore one of those with y’all today.  

Do any of y’all, who might have grown up watched Sesame Street, remember the segment called “one of these things is not like the other?”  

The segment would start by showing a group of things on the screen, such as four balloons, three of them red and one of them blue.  And then the song would start that would sound something like this:

One of these things is not like the other.
One of these things doesn’t belong.
Can you tell which thing is not like the other
by the time I finish this song?

So, when I see three similar parables such as this back to back to back, I often like to play that game.

So why don’t we play it together?

We have three things that have been lost in the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s Gospel:  a sheep, a coin, and a person.

One of these things is not like the other.  Can you spot the one that is different?

The coin.  Because the sheep and the prodigal son are both living things with autonomy, right?  The sheep can choose to stray from the fold.  The prodigal son most definitely made a choice to take his father’s inheritance and splurge it in a faraway country.  But the coin is an inanimate object.  It has no agency.  It might make sense to yell at a sheep who has strayed, although the shepherd does the opposite when he finds it.  It might make sense to discipline a child who has wandered, although, again, the father does the opposite when he finds his son.  However, it’s just plain silly to yell at a silver dollar that YOU misplaced!  The last time I lost my keys, I did not blame them for getting lost!

Now, once we acknowledge that the coin is an inanimate object devoid of agency, it further complicates this passage.  After all, it ends with the following statement:  “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Therefore, the author of Luke seems to connect these stories with a sinner who repents and changes his or her ways.

But that just doesn’t make sense with a coin.  The coin in today’s story did nothing wrong.  You’ll have about as much success having a coin repent of its evildoing as you would having a lego repent when you step on it with your bare foot!

So what are we going to do with this passage?

Well, these stories remind me that there are a lot of different ways that we can be lost.  Sometimes, like the sheep and like the son, we are lost through no ones fault but ourselves.  We lose ourselves from each other by sin.  We stray from the righteous and peaceful path that God has invited us to walk.  Like the sheep and the prodigal, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

But other times, we can get lost through no fault of our own.  Sometimes, like the coin, we get lost by forces that are far outside of our control.  Sometimes, we just can’t help but be swept away by the currents of external circumstances.

This makes me think about the coins that might be lost around us.  Who are the folks who have become lost because of forces beyond their control?  The heroin addict.  The children slaughtered by assault weapons.  The single mother who has three part time jobs with no benefits who is struggling to feed her children and can’t afford to pay for their healthcare.  The son or daughter who struggles with mental illness and their parents who feel helpless.

These are people who are lost and need to be found.

But, please hear me, by comparing them to the coin in today’s passage I in no way am attempting to dehumanize them.  In fact, this passage compels us to do the exact opposite.  These parables compel us to find those who have been lost.  And maybe, instead of a flashlight or a “lost poster” stapled to a telephone pole, maybe we might find some different tools to recover who has been lost.

Perhaps we might embrace tools like economic justice that works for all and not just those who exist in privilege as many of us do.  Perhaps we might learn to welcome the immigrant instead of telling them to go back to where they came from.  Perhaps we might learn to stop excluding people from the church who don’t look or act like us and welcome the stranger.  Perhaps we might learn that God’s desire is for us join in God’s quest for redemption of all creation.

You see, parables such as these compel us to ask the following question:  what do these stories reveal about the character of God?

According to the parables in the 15th chapter of Luke, we can make the following assumptions about the character of God:

1. God will not rest until what is lost has been found.

2. God rejoices when we repent of our sins and rejoin the fold to which we are called.

3. God rejoices equally as much when someone who is lost by no fault of their own is welcomed back into the family of God.

4. God celebrates without restraint when what is lost has been found.

And now that we’ve established what these stories reveal about the character of God, it is time for us to reflect that same character.  A few days ago, seven of us gathered at Goodfellas Pizza to talk a bit about the first chapter of Genesis and we talked a little bit about what it means to be made in the image of God.  We talked about how being made in the image of God is less about our physical appearance and much more about our behavior.  To be made in the image of God means that we are designed to reflect the character of God.

And so, we come to our new falls series, “What Disciples Do.”  Disciples, to put it quite simply, are those who are called to reflect the character of God.

So, together let us seek what has been lost.  Let us search for what seems so lost nowadays:  compassion, gentleness, justice, and basic human decency.  Let us do the work of discipleship by celebrating together, with radical abundance, when what has been lost has been found.

In the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.  May all of us God’s children, say:  Amen.